What a week, huh? Sarah and I often turn to our favorite writers during trying times (she even keeps a quote book as a way to have her favorite quotes close at hand).

I’ve spent the week thinking about similarities and differences among people – how could I not, given the divisive election we just had? And I think this election was particularly hard for me because the region where we grew up voted overwhelmingly for the candidates that Sarah and I didn’t agree with. The thing is that growing up there, I’m connected to those voters and that region, and I understand why they made that choice (granted, I know that even within that group there was a wide range of reasons for their choice), and I can even sympathize with their side of the story. I know this post is vague, but that’s because there’s too much raw emotion on the internet right now. I don’t want to get into the nitty-gritty of right and wrong and good or bad, because I know it’s not that simple. Instead, I just want to focus on our connections.

We’re all in this together. I hope our country will work for us in both directions : from the top down and from the bottom up. The government working in the best interest of the people, and the people working to help their families and communities grow strong and resilient. But it can’t end there. Why do we so often lose sight of the fact that we are on one planet floating through space. We have to take care of it, which means taking care of both the natural systems and forging strong relationships with the communities beyond our borders. When nuclear power plants are damaged in Japan, that radiation falls into oceans near our shores, when emissions are released from coal plants in the US, that acid rain falls in Canada. When people are fleeing a war zone, we should be thankful that the war isn’t on our soil and open our hearts to their peril. A wall can’t protect us, but good ideas can fix problems.

In moments like this, our best medicine is to go for a hike, what’s yours? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, get outside. If you can’t move, watch something that puts our place in the universe in perspective. Cosmos? Planet Earth? You decide…. just give yourself a break from the news ;-).